The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor

An outstanding book, another Pulitzer prize winner. It stands head and shoulders above many more famous winners. The edition I have was a re-issue by Loyola Classics, and that should tell you a lot. There are no sex scenes, no violence, no murders, no drugs, and just a little bit of alcohol abuse. There are at least four priests who are characters, including the narrator. A quarter of the way through the book I thought it was turning into a "Going My Way" movie-novel, but it surprised me and became something much more subtle and nuanced.

It is a little long-winded, but that is in keeping with the Irish descent of the narrator. Even though lengthy, it's an easy read - the author never confuses, always entertains. I guess you can tell I liked it a lot.

The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau

An outstanding book. It has everything you desire in a work of fiction: great characters, setting, imagery, plot. A refreshing change from most of the Pulizer prize winners I have read lately. There are jewels hidden among the Pulitzers, and this is one of them.

If I wanted to really nit-pick, I might raise some issues about motivation, not only about the major characters, but some of the minor ones as well. A few of the plot turns don't seem realistic either, but they are easily overlooked and accepted. I particularly liked the climax, it was heart-pumping.

third place (tie) in GWA contest

Got a third place for August with "442'. A tie for third, actually. Better than last month, anyway, and as far as I can tell, I still have more points than anyone else for the year. This month's story is not going well - actually it's not going at all - I have written nothing. Two weeks to go...

Another Short Story Rejection

"Tuning Hammer" got another rejection, this time from Southern Hum, an online journal. Not much I can say...

Smonk by Tom Franklin

A fast and enjoyable read, probably less than 80k words. You really have to think like a twelve year old boy to be able to read this novel without becoming disgusted by the blood, guts, violence, and sex. Hearing the author do a reading, like I did at the Decatur Book Festival, helps tremendously. When you hear him read it you realize he's not serious and it is all just make believe, a gory story that can be only be fully appreciated by the adolescent hiding within us.

Smonk is an interesting character, but not the main character. The book is stolen, in my opinion, by Evavangeline.

Pulitzer reading project update

A quick tally shows that I have read thirty-five of the fifty-five that I chose to read. That's an average of about one a week. One thing that I have learned is that I have some strong opinions about what I like and what I don't like. At the bottom of my list at the moment are some of the most famous authors - Updike and Mailer. I can't stand the "rabbit" novels, and Mailer's Executioner's Song was a huge disappointment.

I just made a new order from Powell's for used books. I think I am paying their light bill this year...

The Reivers by William Faulkner

A refreshing read after the bitter disappointments I have had from the Pulitzer's lately. This is another in the list of Pulitzer prize winners I am reading. Lately the authors have been failing to meet even my minimum standards (Mailer, Updike), but this little gem has refreshed my enthusiasm.

It is a light comedy, and also a moral tale. Faulkner's last novel, published in 1962, and put into that time frame it seems dated and old-fashioned. It's set in 1910, and is a moral tale of an eleven year old boy coming of age. It has everything that a novel needs, and is told by a master story teller, so for that reason it is refreshing after the disaster of Mailer's Executioner's Song, the last Pultizer I read.

My only complaint is the somewhat vague start. The narrator is an adult, telling the story (we assume) to his son, about what happened to the narrator when he was a young boy. This is never clearly stated and has to be pieced together as the novel progresses. A clear unambigous statement of what is going on near the beginning would be helpful.

The novel is also filled with Faulkner's own interpretation of the race relations of that time period. There are strong Black characters and weak Black characters. There are strong white characters and weak ones. But Faulkner colors everything with his own peculiar take on racial relations. The eleven year old boy is able to relate to his Black friends in ways not possible for an adult white male of that period.

It's a great novel though, not terribly serious but very enjoyable.

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

There is nothing I like about this book. It reads like a 1000 page feature article in the "Living" section of the newspaper. About a sixth grade reading level: short paragraphs, short sentences, short words.

It's not fiction, at least not in my opinion. I would categorize it as creative non-fiction. So why did it win the Pulitzer for fiction? Beats me. The first of the Pulitzers I have read that I would like to forget.

The Stories of John Cheever

It's tough to read 60+ short stories, much tougher than reading a novel of the same length. Every four or five pages you reset and start over.

The best of John Cheever, another in the list of pulitzer prize winners I am reading. They are in chronological order, so they do get better and more polished and more "Cheever" as the book progresses. His best are here, including the one everyone has to read in school, "The Swimmer." That story is very representative of the whole collection. The woes of suburban living, the American dream unrealized, man copes with loss, and so forth. Cheever sticks to what he knows. New York City and it's suburbs, New England vacation spots, and Italy after the war.

There are a lot of good stories here, and a few that I didn't like very much. This is a book opinion, after all, and my opinion is that he did a great job occasionally, and missed the mark occasionally, and the rest of the time did very well.

It's also obvious how influential he was on short story writers that followed him. Some of his writing seems dated - he favors an omniscient viewpoint, sometimes addresses the reader directly, uses very little dialogue, and sticks to characters that are rich. Was he writing for his audience, the rich New Yorker?

If you are a short story writer, I recommend studying these stories in detail.

Tom Franklin talk at the Decatur Book Festival

Tom Franklin is one of my favorite authors, so when I saw he was going to speak at this book festival I had to go. He's very funny, and read excerpts from his new book "Smonk". This was a talk inteded for readers, not writers, so it was entertaining and amusing, not informative. Franklin tells a good story, and frequently got side-tracked when answering questions, which was pretty funny in itself - I don't think anyone minded.

Laurie and I bought a copy of the new book and got it autographed. When I get a chance I'll post a book opinion.